DHS Seizes 35,000 Chinese Rubber Ducks in Santa Suits

Why are we wasting taxpayer money on this bureaucracy? DHS constantly misses the mark ranging from a manufactured Hollywood zombie-apocalypse to Santa rubber ducks as a threat to the U.S… but Jihad terrorists? Not so much…

They may have had better luck on Santa’s sleigh, but more than 35,000 holiday-themed rubber ducks from China were detained by U.S. Customs officials at the Port of Los Angeles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized the ducks — dressed as snowmen, gingerbread men, penguins and reindeer — which were valued at $18,522, after determining they contained the chemical phthalate in excess of the limit which may be harmful to children.

Phthalates are used to make vinyl and other plastics soft and flexible, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. Consumer officials prohibit the sale, distribution and import of any child’s toy or child care item that contains concentrations of more than 0.1% of phthalate….

“Arizona bomber was rejected for citizenship by Homeland Security for ‘terrorism-related activity,” by Patrick Poole for PJ Media, December 6:

Back on Sunday I broke the news here at PJ Media of the arrest of Abdullatif Aldosary in connection of the bombing of a Social Security Administration office in Casa Grande, Arizona last Friday morning….

But a bombshell report today based on information obtained by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who had received a request from Aldosary in November 2011 for assistance in obtaining a “green card”.

According to today’s news report, the Department of Homeland Security responded to Gosar’s request on behalf of Aldosary last year by saying that he was ineligible for a change in status because of “terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility”:

Gosar said DHS responded by saying Aldosary was not eligible for a permanent change to citizenship “pursuant to the terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility, and that “individuals who engage in terrorism-related activity … are barred from receiving various immigration benefits.”…

In light of the Casa Grande bombing, Gosar questioned why Aldosary was not detained and processed for deportation in November 2011, after it was determined he had engaged in terrorism-related activity.

We don’t know why Aldosary wasn’t deported, despite his involvement in “terrorism-related activity.” But he wasn’t. And now he has carried out a jihad bombing in Arizona. But don’t be concerned: at least you’re safe from rubber ducks.

As far as I know, it has not been shown that phthalate have been harmful to anyone at any concentration. They DO find them in people’s systems after exposure to them, but no harm has to date ever been shown to be attributed to them. The limit was arbitrarily arrived at.

AuntieMadder commented:

Both imports of health-hazardous items and jihad terrorism are valid concerns. I’d hate to be poisoned by the Chinese via the trinkets they export to the US because all focus and resources were placed jihadist terrorism.

feduptoo commented:

I remember some medicine made in china that had a poison that killed many Haitian children. That is why I laugh when people say chinese are like capitalist because they make things that we want-but caviat emptor- I never took Latin so the spellings wrong, but beware. Chinese imports may be CHEAPER but that means nothing when it comes it QUALITY! As I always say, “cihinese businesses could care less what they ship out, as long the money flows.”